Medallists Decided At Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE 2010

Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia MAPFRE 2010

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

The medallists were decided today at Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia Mapfre, Palma, Spain, the third regatta of the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup. Alessandra Sensini scooped the overall trophy in her first competition on the RS:X since the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.

France and Great Britain were the big winners in the nations table with five medals each whilst Spain and the Netherlands also put in stand out performances picking up four medals each.

For the second consecutive year the overall winner came from the Women's RS:X fleet. Alessandra Sensini (ITA) put in a dominant performance, only once finishing a race outside the top five. In second place was 2009 World and European Champion, Marina Alabau (ESP), with the bronze medal going to the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Bryony Shaw from Great Britain. Sensini's goal was to be among the top five, "I started training again not so long ago and surprisingly I have won", she said. Alabau's silver medal takes her to the top of the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings just ahead of Laura Linares (ITA) who finished just outside the medals in fourth.

There were big changes to the final positions in the Men's RS:X fleet with Shahar Zubari (ISR) stepping off the podium after finishing eighth in the Medal Race to finish fourth overall just one point adrift of the bronze medallist Dorian Van rijsselberge (NED) who claimed second in the final race. van Rijsselberge's silver also gives him an eight point lead in the world cup standings. Overall victory went to Byron Kokalanis (GRE) with 37 points followed by Tom Ashley from New Zealand.

The close battle in the Women's 470 between Italian duo Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol and Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux (FRA) continued in the Medal Race with them finishing fifth and sixth respectively resulting in the Italian's wining the gold medal just two points ahead. Petitjean was happy with the result but said, "It is a shame to have finished at one step from victory." Third place overall went to another French crew, Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance.

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France won their second gold in the 49er fleet. Emmanuel Dyen and Stéphane Christidis provided a great performance to finish with a 10 point advantage over second placed Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh from Great Britain to record their second consecutive World Cup regatta win and consolidate their position at the top of the Standings. Draper and Greenhalgh claimed back the silver from from their Team GBR rivals Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes who finished ninth in the Medal Race and dropped to third.

Ed Wright (GBR) improved his performance throughout the week and did just enough in the Medal Race, finishing fourth, to take a narrow victory over Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and the gold by just one point, his second World Cup victory this season. A tough battle for bronze between French sailors Jonathan Lobert and Thomas Le Breton resulted in Lobert finishing with 53 points to Le Breton's 54 points.

Javier Hernandez won gold in the Laser after a close dual in the medal race with Croatian sailor Tonci Stipanovic who had to settle for the silver medal. Hernández said, "This is like a dream; it is the first World Cup event I win. I was very tense during the race because I knew it was going to be tough but I battled to the end. The last downwind leg was very exciting because we were all sailing in a close group."

Olympic sailors now turn their attention to the next stop on the ISAF Sailing World Cup calendar, the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères at the end of April. The Trofeo Sofia will be back next year with new dates, 2-9 April 2011.